A BUSY city centre roundabout will be modified to slow down traffic in response to concerns about pedestrian safety.
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Bathurst Regional Council has received $235,000 in Black Spot funding to upgrade the intersection of William and Keppel streets, the project including increasing the size of the roundabout.
Councillor Warren Aubin said, in its current configuration, vehicles are approaching the intersection too quickly, which is putting pedestrians at risk.
"There is a lot of pedestrian movement there," he said.
"... It does create a little bit of danger for pedestrians and, the way it is at the moment, it is a fairly open roundabout, so it is approached probably too fast."
![Cars passing through the intersection of William and Keppel streets. Picture by Rachel Chamberlain Cars passing through the intersection of William and Keppel streets. Picture by Rachel Chamberlain](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/gfyFBZ2A3aREPWrpf4KzA3/7500f1eb-bebd-4cf1-8320-fe9d55e0fffa.png/r0_0_3914_2348_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
He said the planned work will see the intersection of William and Keppel streets more closely resemble another CBD roundabout, the one at the intersection of Howick and George streets, which became single-lane in early 2019.
"They're only single lane coming on; there's no lane lines marked to segregate traffic turning left, right and straight ahead," Cr Aubin said.
"So that will be exactly the same, but it will have some good deflection angles like they did up at Suttor and Bradwardine to get the traffic to slow down a bit more."
Work on the intersection of William and Keppel streets will commence on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, and progress in four stages.
The work is expected to take between six and 10 weeks to complete.
For two to four of those weeks, the roundabout will be open to traffic, but for another four to six weeks the intersection will need to be closed.
A full closure of the roundabout will not occur before November 13, 2023.
The list of works being undertaken to improve the safety of the roundabout include:
- Removal and replacement of the existing centre island apron with a larger apron. The central landscaped part of the centre island will remain unchanged.
- Removal and reconstruction of the northern, eastern, and southern kerb returns to remove slip lanes from all approaches and have single lane entry and exit on all four approaches.
- Removal and reconstruction of all existing splitter islands to remove slip lanes (in conjunction with kerb return works) and increase pedestrian refuge space at crossings.
- The centre island apron and kerb return reconstruction works include level adjustments to improve drainage and road crossfall.
- Milling of existing asphalt and placement of new asphalt to match the new centre island and kerb return alignment/levels and provide a smooth and high grip driving surface.
- New linemarking and signage relocation to suit the new roundabout geometry.
Over the course of the project, access to businesses in the area will be maintained.
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